The disclosure relates generally to control systems and methods for a wet compression system. More specifically, the present disclosure relates to controlling the water flow rate of a wet compression system to the operation of a gas turbine system.
Gas turbine (GT) systems generally incorporate wet compression systems to cool the air entering a compressor of the GT system to reduce the amount of work required to compress the air. Wet compression systems conventionally include a grid of nozzles for introducing droplets of water to the air before the fluid enters the compressor. Degradation and erosion of nozzles in the wet compression system may cause a reduction in pressure across the nozzles, which may enlarge the droplet size of the water entering the compressor. The enlarged water droplets may accelerate erosion of the blades in the compressor and/or impede some features of the wet compression system. Blade erosion and decreased wet compression system performance may negatively affect the power output of the GT system.
Controlling the water flow rate of the wet compression system can mitigate nozzle degradation and erosion. Conventional solutions to control water flow rate can include monitoring pressure across a nozzle of the wet compression system. For example, conventional wet compression systems may incorporate a controller to reduce the flow rate of water of the system based on whether the pressure across the nozzles drops below a set pressure threshold value.